Automatic fire-alarm device



ERNEST A. LOWE, OF NORTH CPLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO A'OTOlll/IATIC SPRINKLER COMPANY OF AMERICA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y- A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

To all whom it may concern.

"Be a known that I, ERNEST A. LOWE, af citizen of the United States, and resident of North Plainfield, county of Somerset, State of New Jersey, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating to Automatic whistle or aldiaphragm alarm of the type described herein in which, ifdesired, the

"vibrator or contact member may be actuated by impulses of varying periodicity or amplitude or the resulting sound may be-more or less damped or diminished periodically or at more or less regular time intervals so as to give a characteristic sound which can be easily recognized as an alarm signal. Any desired form of driving or motor device may be used in connection with such an. audible signal and a spring, weight, electric or pneumatic driving device may be used-if desired. A heavy spring used in conn ectionwith such a vibrated diaphragm type of alarmgives good results and makes possible a self contained device of relatively light weight which may be put in place at the desired intervals around the premises to be protected.

' In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way illustrative embodiments of the invention,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view.

Fig. 2 is a transverse or horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a partial section taken along the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail taken along the line H of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is another sectional detail taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig.

and

AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM navxcn.

Fig. 6 is a partial sectional I I view showing. a modified construction.

The device may advantageously comprise,

W front plate 77 to which they may be detachably secured as by the screws or bolts 40. A casing, such as 2, of sheet metal or other suitable material may be .secured to the frame as by suitable screws 8 indicated which may also" secure the casing to the cover 4. or other part of the airv chamber of the device. This casing may have a support,

3 secured thereto in any desired way so as to conveniently hold the device in position by screwing'this support against a wall preferably. so. that the air chamber of the device is brought adjacent the ceiling 1 'of the room where it usually responds more quickly to Specification o f Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 27, 1921, Application i'iled December 1918. SerialNo. 268,4433.

the currents of highly heated air which are caused by a starting fire. Any desired form of thermostat may be used toactuate the devices and as indicated an air thermostat may be used for this purpose and may advan tageously comprise a metallic air chamber mounted in any suitable position in connection with the apparatus. The air chamber i may, is desired, be formed of a cover 'memher 4 of generally arched or dome form having a flange '7 bent down adjacent the easing 2,- as shown in Fig. 1. This flange may be soldered or otherwise secured to a support plate 5 having a similar flange 6, if desired, which may of course be rigidly secured to theframe plate 38 as byone or more connecting members 102. The support plate may be formed with one or more apertures, such as 84 and if desired a relatively flexible metallic or other diaphragm 9 may be secured in such position so as to cooperate with; this air chamber and be actuated by the air pressure developed therein as by securing this thin metallic detector diaphragm to the apertured support plate. This may be readily done by clamping the diaphragm between the support plate and a guard plate 10 of brass or other suitable material secured in position as'by the screws 11 around its periphery so that he diaphragm is allowed a limited move] ient between these two apertured plates wl ch prevent its being unduly bent or dist rted by the air pressure differences drawing for the sake of clearness.

7 caused by-the changes of temperature to which theair chamber is subjected. To form a rate-ofrise thermostat this air chamber is vented in any suitable way as by forming the pin hole. vent or aperture 103 therein which is of course considerably exaggerated in ltfie e capacity of this vent is of course so arranged with respect to the size of the air chamber that it will take care of the normal slow temperature changes to which the device is subjected under normal conditions of the protected premises without developing any substantial or considerable pressure difference withinthe' chamber. When, however, an excessive rate of temperature rise occurs, such as corresponds to an incipient fire, the expansion of the air can no longer be substantially equalized by escape through this vent and the excess pressure acting on the diaphragm forces it outward so as to actuate the'alarm signal mechanism.

The alarm signal may, if desired, comprise an alarm diaphragm, such as 79, which may as indicated in 1 and 5 be clamped or screwed against the front plate 77 to whlch the horn member 80 may be simultaneously attached, if desired. The contact member 81 may be secured to this diaphragmin any desired way as by the nuts 82 so that this contact member properly coiiperates with a toothed vibrator disk or member 73 secured in any desired way on the vibratorshaft 66 and having suflicient weight to give the desired inertia effects to produce the alarm signal most effectively.- This'vibrator may be driven by any suitable motor devices;

such, for instance, as the spring motor shown which may as indicated in Fig.2 comprise the heavy motor or driving 'sprlng 71 cooperating with the driving shaft 62 on which the driving wheel 61 is mounted so as to coperate with the pinion 63 on the intermediate shaft 67 having secured thereto the winding ratchet 68. The eoiiperating pawl 69 may be normally held in engagement with this ratchet as by the spring 70 and may be pivoted or otherwise connected to the intermediate wheel 64 which may mesh with the vibrator pinion 65, see also Fig. 5. This vibrator member or disk may have securedthereto a detent wheel or device 76 having a series of teeth around its perpihery with which may coiiperate the latch of the detent mechanism. This is shown in Figs. 1 and 1 v2, the latch 35 having a cut-away portion so that when in the holding or normally set position shown in Fig. 2 this latch is engaged by one of the detent teeth 76 to prevent rotation of the vibrator. This latch may be revolubly' mounted in the brackets 34:, 37 secured to 'the front plate or other frame member as by posts such as 41 as indicated in Fig. 1. In this way the members3et form bearings on each side of the latch or trigger arm 29 which maybe rigidly secured in the substantially cylindricalbody 30 of this latch so as to control its movements, the latch being normally held in this retaining position by suitable spring action asby the spring 32 acting"between the pin- 31on the latch and a stationarypin, such as 33, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It is ad-' vantageous to have this spring actuated latch en age the detent member insuch way that un er the influence of the spring or weight used to drive the device the force of sucha retaining spring or weight is more I or less neutralized, which to a correspondmg extent makes the releasing or actuating operation of the thermostat or controlling mechanism more efiicient and sensitive,

especially where the action of the retaining spring also tends to counteract the restraining pressure of the detent forcing the latch against its bearings. This detent ,mecha tel-posing a spring, such as 25, between this catch arm and its supporting or hearing member, the end of the spring being, if desired, extended through the hole 27 in this support. The end 20 of this catch arm may as indicated in Fig. 3 be given a knife edge or taperin" form to reduce friction and may coiiperate with the end of the release arm 15 actuated by the detector diaphragm in any suitable wayc as through the light pin 12 guided in the member 13 in the frame and normally held in engagement with the diaphragm by the action of the head or end 14 of this release arm which is normally spring pressed against it as by the spring 18. This spring may be arranged around 'thepivot 17 on which the bearing portions or lugs 16 of the release arm aresupported and held in position in the bearing bracket or support 19 formed on or secured to the frame in any desired way. This arrangement of detent members or reducing levers 1' preferably-having asindicated a spring releaslng action makes the device quite sensitive and enables a relatively light, air pressure on the detector diaphragm'to successively release the elements of this detent mechanism so as to allow the rotation of the vibiator disk which correspondingly actuates the alarm diaphragm 79;

It is advantageous to have a resetting de vice for resetting the various parts of this 130 detent mechanism and this resetting device a may advantageously be combined with the of the latcharm to ride over'it.

winding means where-Va spring or weightmotoris employed. FOI iZl'HS purpose a resetter arm, such as 43, maybe pivoted about the pin or support 39 and normally held in the inoperative-position indicated in Fig. 2 by. the spring 49, the end 23 of. the catch arm being preferably formed with an inclined portion 105 to assist the end 28 jecting portion of this resetter arm-may be periodically engaged by.any one of the moving parts during the winding of the spring or weight so that this resetter arm is thereupon swung upward sufliciently so that it engages and successively restores the variousdetent devices to their set or holding position. This resetting action may be-effected by suitable resetting projections or portions on this resetter arm, such as the upstanding portion 44 adapted to engage the detent arm 29 and throw it up into its full'line position in Fig. 2, another portion of the resetter, such as the curved end of this arm 13 thereupon engaging the catch arm 21 to throw its end 23 into the path of this dete'nt arm and simultaneously throw its other end out over the end of the release arm 15 so as to interlocking-1y engage therewith as shown in Figs. land 3, provided, of

course, the diaphragm and release arm are then in their normal holding position shown. This resetter arm may be conveniently actuated by a resetter lug or pro jection, uch as 53, on the winding sleeve or element'54, which may be connected with the winding handle 59 as by the screw joint 58 shown in Fig. 4. When this sleeve and resetter lug are moved in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, the lug is brought into engagement with the resetter dog or'proj'ection 50 which may be pivoted about the pin 51 on the end 46 of the resetter arm so astooscillate this resetter arm to the desired 'extent before the lug slips off the end of this winding sleeve and the pinion such as 60 actuated thereby which anay thus be permanently in mesh with the driving wheel 61. This may be effected by having the pinion secured to the winding arbor 57 and having a pin such as 56 secured to this arbor and loosely engaging one or more slots 55 in the winding sleeve so as to allow ample back A pro lash or lost angular motion between these 43 to its inoperative position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. Either this lug snaps past the resetter dog 50 if the sleeve is turned to that extent, or if the forward Winding movement in, the direction of the arrow. stops .at such point that the resetter lug is still in contact with the dog the spring 49 throws back the resetter lug and connected winding sleeve sufliciently to allow the resetter arm to returnto its normal inoperative position, the amount of lostmotiongprovided between the pin 56 and slot 55 being ample for thispurpose. 1 1

It. is quite desirable to have a distinctive type or character of sound produced by the audible alarm device used in this connection o 7 and where, for instance, the diaphragm type of alarm signal is employed this may be effected by periodically or occasionally changing the pitch orv lntensity of the diaphragm v1 ration or of, the resultant air vibrations or both through any suitable means. For

some purposes it is sufficient to have the pitch of the teeth on the vibrator disk or member vary more or less and as indicated in Fig. 1 these teeth may more or less gradually increase in pitch from the relatively closely'spaced teeth 74 to the widely spaced teeth 75 so that for every revolution of the disk a gradual change of pitch is thus efiected. In some cases either instead of or in connection with such a pitch variation of the teeth .and resulting diaphragm sound, the intensity of the vibration may be peri odically varied as by having some of these teeth project farther than others in a more or less progressive fashion as indicated in .parts and prevent the resetter lug 53 interfer-ing with the return of the resetter arm Fig. 1 where the closely spaced teeth 74 project farther toward the contact member 81 connected to the diaphragm than the widely spacedteeth 75. Any other suitable arrangements may of course be used for effecting such a change of pitch or intensity of 1 iii the sound. As shown in Fig. 6 the speed of the'vibrator disk 73 which may in this instance have uniformly spaced teeth 74. may,

if desired, be' periodically retarded by the action of a retarder lever or member 99 pivoted, for example, about the pin 97 in the bracket 96 secured to the frame in any suitable way and occasionally thrown into engagement with the vibrator disk as bythe retarder cam '98 on anyof the moving parts .of the device, as forinstance on the intermediate shaft 67. When this cam comes into contact several times a second. for instance,w1th the bearing. member or plate 109 the retarder lever, it forces the other thiI1 '1QSlll6Ill3 end of this lever lightly into, engagement with the vibrator disk so asftq somewhat retard its speed and periodically reduce the pitch of the alarm signal pro 3 duced by the engagement of these teeth 74' with the contact member 81 secured to the signal dlaphragm. Another regulating device which may be used in connection with Min addition to those previously mentioned is by throttling or damping in any suitable way the air vibrations produced by the alarm as by using any suitable throttling damper to more or less close the horn aperture in a periodic or mtermlttent manner.

. As shown in Fig. 6 the special horn member 101 may be secured to the front plate 77 and may have secured thereto an apertured plate 85 having a series of apertures 86 formed therein in any suitable way. A m'ovable damper or re ulator plate or member 87 may cooperate t erewith-and be formed with corresponding apertures 88 which may normallyregister with the apertures 86to allow the maximum emission'o'f sound while when the damper plate is moved so that its slot 89,,-for instance, moves with respect to the 'screws orpins 100 these apertures may be more or less closed and the audible alarm signal considerably reduced or extinguished In a characteristic wayso as to give are-.

current or intermittent characteristic alarmsignal. This may be effected by a regulator arm or member 91 pivoted, for instance, about the pin 95 in the bracket 96 and havingits end projecting through' the aperture 90 in the damper plate. Normally the spring 94 on'this arm may hold the damper plate in this open position while when the regulator cam or projection 93 on the shaft 67 swings aroun cam plate or follower 92 on the regular arm,

I this arm is moved outward so as to more or less close thesedamper apertures and then allow them to open'ina gradual manner for 1 this purpose.

This invention has been describedin connectlon-with a number of lllustrative embodiments, forms, arran ements, proportions, parts, materials an methods of use, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is'claim'ed as. new and'what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth inthe appended claims:

1. In automatic, fire alarm devices, a

frame, a metallic air chamber secured to said frame and comprising an apertured support plate, a detector diaphragm cooperating therewith, a guard plate secured to said support plate to clamp said detector diaphragm in position and limlt its motion,

-, a front plate secured to said frame and into engagement with the spring motor mounted in said casing and said signal diaphragm and cooperating with said vibrator and detent mechanism cooperating with said detent wheel and comprising sprin releasing members adapted to be actuate by said detector diaphragm. '2. In automatic fire alarm devices, a frame, a vented metallic air chamber secured to and forming one end of said frame and comprising an apertured support plate, a metallic detector diaphragm secured to said support plate and closing one end of said air chamber, a front late secured to said frame and formed wlth a horn, a signal diaphragm secured to said front plate in cooperation with said horn, a spring motor mounted on said frame and comprising a toothed vibrator cooperating with said signal diaphragm, detent mechanism controlling said vibrator and comprising spring releasing members adapted to ;be actuate by 'saiddetector diaphragm.

3. In' automatic fire alarm devices, a frame, a vented air chamber secured to'said frame adjacent one end thereof, a detector diaphragm closing one end of said air chamber, a signal diaphragm, a spring motor mounted on said frame and comprising a toothed vibrator having varying itch teeth cooperating with said slgnaldiap ragm, de-

tent mechanism controlling said vibrator .and adapted to be actuated by said detector diaphragm.

4. In fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an

audible alarm actuated bysaid thermostat.

and comprisin a toothed vibrator and a cooperating diap ragm and means to periodically vary the quality of the alarm signal produced by said diaphragm and comprising teeth spaced irregularly around said vibrator.

5. In fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an audible alarm actuated by said thermostat and means to periodically vary the pitch and intensity of the resulting sound vibrations to vgive a characteristic alarm signal.

6. In fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an

audible alarm actuated by said thermostat and means to repeatedly vary the intensity .of the resulting. sound vibrations to give a characteristic alarm signal.

7 In fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an audible alarm actuated by said thermostat and comprising a toothed vibrator and a cooperating diaphragm and means to periodically vary the intensity of the alarm signal produced by said diaphragm and comprising teeth spaced around said vibrator and projecting therefromto different extents to periodically vary the intensity ofthe vibration of said diaphragm.

8. In automatic fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an audible alarm signal, a motor to trolling devices, a resettingarm cooperating operate said alarm, detent mechanism to bers to reset the same in interlocked restraining position and winding devices for said motor comprising a winding sleeve having a resetter lug to actuate said resetter arm as said winding sleeve is operated during the winding movement, a-,resetter dog loosely pivoted on said resetter, arm and adapted to be engaged by said resetter lug and a spring normally holding'said resetter dog in position with respect to said arm,- a winding member cooperating with said winding sleeve and a lost motionconnect-ion between said winding member and sleeve.

9. In automatic fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an audible alarm signal, a motor to operate said alarm, detent mechanism to normally restrain said motor and comprismostat, an audible alarm signal, a motor to operate said alarm, detent mechanism'to normally restrain said motor and comprising detent members adapted to be actuated by said thermostat, a resetting arm cooperating with said detent members to reset the same in interlocked restraining position and winding devices for said motor comprising a resetter lug to actuate said resetter arm as said winding devices ,are operated during the winding movement.

11. In fire alarm devices, a signal diaphragm, a motor and connected toothed virator cotiperating with said diaphragm, detent mechanism to normally restrain the operation of said vibrator and comprising detent members adapted to be actuated by. conwith said detent members to reset the same in interlocked restraining position and winding devices for said motor comprising a resetter member to repeatedly actuate said resetter arm during the winding movement and means to prevent undesirableengagement of said resetter member and resetter arm during the unwinding movement of said motor.

12. In fire alarm devices, a signal diawheel thereon. ing detent members adapted to be actuated nism to normally restrain said motor and phra'gm, a motor and connected toothed vibrator cooperating with said diaphragm, detent mechanism to normally restrain the operation of said vibrator and comprisingdetent members adapted to be actuated by controlling devices, a resetting arm cooperating with said detent members to reset the same in restraining position and winding devices for said motor comprising a resetter member to repeatedly actuate said resetter arm during the winding movement.

13. In fire alarm devices, a thermostat, an audible alarm signal, a' connected alarm motor comprising a detent wheel and detent mechanism to normally restrain the operation of said alarm motor and adapted to be actuated by said thermostat, said detent mechanism comprising a detent coiiperating v with said detent wheel and a "releasing spring engaging said detent and opposing"? the angular and lateral force of said detent 86 14. In fire protection devices, a controlling device, an emergency fire'protection device and. coiiperating motor means comprising a=detent member and detent mechanism to normally restrain the operation of said motor means and adapted to be actuated by said controlling device, said detent mechanism comprising a'detent cooperating with said detent member and a releasing member engaging said detent and opposing the force of said detent member thereon.

1 5. In'automatic fire alarm devices, a rateof-rise airthermostat, an audible alarm, a motor to operate said alarm, detent mechacomprising detent members adapted to be actuated by said thermostat, a resetting arm cooperating with said detent members to reset the same in interlocked restraining position .10 and energizing devices forsaid motor comprising a resetter lug to actuate said resetting arm as said motor is energized.

16. In automatic fire alarm devices, a compensated rate-of-rise air thermostat, an audible alarm, a motor to operate said alarm, mechanism to normally restrain said motor and releasable by said thermostat, means for setting said mechanism and energizing devices for said motor comprising means to actuate said setting means as said motor is energized.

17. In automatic fire alarm devices, athermostat, an alarm, a motor to operate said alarm, mechanism to normally restrain said motor and comprising members adapted to be actuated by said thermostat, setting means cooperating with said members-to set the same in restraining position and energizing devices for said motor comprising ERNEST A. LOWE. 

